Arsenal Debate: What’s Wrong With Promoting Reserve/Youth Players?
The Fallacy About Arsenal Reserve/Youth Players
This will be a brief post, but I’m curious to know why some fans are so determined to present their own premonitions as certainties, in regards to when reserve/youth players are ready to be promoted to the first team. It’s an important question that I’m interested in discussing with fellow gooners.
We have all been privileged to watch some seriously talented players come up through the reserves and youth divisions of Arsenal, breaking into the first-team in recent years i.e. Song, Wilshere, Szczesny just to name a few.
For example, Song was purchased in 2005 and played in the reserves (and occasional first team matches) until 3 years later in the 2008-2009 season when he made his breakthrough as a full-fledged first team squad member. Since then, Song has become one of the best all-around midfielders in the league (if not the world), a crucial player who also has a habit of staying uninjured.
My question is this…Who says that this is not possible for players such as Coquelin, Lansbury, Frimpong this very season. Why isn’t it possible for players like them to have their breakthrough seasons this season? Players like them (and Bartley) have now served the same amount of loan time that Song did before he broke through into the first team, so why not?
When fans come out and dictate “oh, he’s not ready, and he’s not ready…and he needs to be loaned more, and him too…” it baffles me. How do they know that? Who died and made them manager? No one, and they haven’t a clue when it comes to knowing when a player is ready to be promoted or not. Same goes for me. I haven’t a clue either because I’m no Arsene Wenger, but I do ask:
What is stopping these players from having their breakthrough seasons this season? Who’s to say that Arsene Wenger won’t promote one of the many great players rising through the reserves/youth squads? And if so, Why would that be considered by many misguided fools as a terrible decision? Surely, if Arsene Wenger says that the (hypothetical) player is ready for the first team, then he is ready, just like Song or Wilshere were, right? Let us know what you think.
ARSENAL FOR LIFE
by JG
yeah..!! very true arsenal do possess some great talents on rise in the reserves. wilshere was a complete revelation. AW will be keen to unleash 1 or 2 new faces in to the first team this season.
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there is nothing wrong with promotin the youth system as long as they are blended with experienced players that’s the only way the youth players can develop hope wenger signs santi cazrola & llorente + ganso & m’vila in arsene we trust
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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we still need expeienced players the reason players like fabregas/clichy,song developed was because they had players like viera/henry/bergkamp/piers & gilberto to look upto these days we have only got arteta,mertascker,sagna,tv5,rosicky we need more experienced players like llorente to replace glassman rvp & santi cazrola for arshavin surely we can win trophies with this squad
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in the priciples of development a person needs experiences and influences to develop.
Coquelin in my opinion is ready his had his loantime, gained his experience n has great players to be influenced by e.g. song-attacks n arteta-defends
jenkinson-no experience besides playing in league 2 for chalrlton 4 like 15games n his expected to flourish??? sagna’s been injured 4 most of the season can’t influence him much, kos n verm although great promote the idea of attack first n foremost n defend last jenkinson’s being influenced by this philosophy n hence is FANTASTIC forward n horrible at the back same with gibbs learning off clichy n now santos, ATTACK first n defend last is being taught to these defenders that’s why we’re ra*ed on the counter REPEATEDLY. he needs to be loaned to gain more experience n meanhile we NEED to change this philosophy of attack first n defend last on the first team players so when he gets back he can be taught the right way.
for ryo n co. we need to see if they can take pressure, have experience from plenty of loans AND can defend
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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thez nothing wrong with the youth system as long as we do it like other big clubs do..in a controlled limited way. my gosh at arsenal its like we r growing broilers to be sold when they r fully developed!
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good news arsenal are have made a bid for ganso & we are close to signing him acc to espn + now replace rvp with llorente & sign santi cazrola arsenal have already started talks with the player we can sign him for 12-15m & there is more good news bendtner will leave probably for milan for 7.5m arshavin to zenit park chu young for arab club & chammakh could go to west ham/beskitas for 5m good times are here for arsenal
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Out of tune?. Like or Dislike:
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Young players are the future of AFC. No doubt this players will shine at the right time. But we need to balance the young and the experienced in our first team to challenge for title this season. To avoid another disapointment, we urgently need;
1. Afellay
2. Lewanski
3. Ganso
4. Jack Butland
COYG!!!
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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Terry Burton will know when they are ready, as will Arsene. We may lose players who yearn for higher salaries but we have a fantastic, knowledgable, experienced, consistent and loyal manager. Hopefully Bould will make a difference this season too.
Lets hope the RVP saga gets sorted asap & the proceeds reinvested in some quality additions.
Also we are still waiting for the burden of the deadwood to be flushed out – especially Squillaci & Bendtfoot!
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I would rather loan a youngster than wasting his talent on bench.
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@leo
santi carzola belongs to Malaga F.C these guys r as rich as PSG, Man City, Chelsea, Real madrid and co.
how on earth r we
1.pay his wages
2.afford his transfer fee
3.promise him more success when malaga can buy our whole team to show him ambition
affelay, Niang and (maybe) m’villa are our only 3 realistic targets hopes n even they seem dodgy
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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That is exactly what I’ve been advocating about. There’s nothing wrong and everything right about promoting our own reserve/youth players. In my view, Frimpong is a player who should be played in a regular basis this season. His physical presence and his vision for passing has caught everyone’s eye whenever he came on. And he’s only one of the promising young talents we have..
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Any player that is ready to fill in any do very well, I think will be welcome by all the fans. You can’t always have the Wilshere type. What fans want is a strong team now, that can pull strings, week-in-week-out, afterwards, the upcoming players can carry on that legacy.
Don’t you think that if any 3 of Henry, Beckhamp, Pires, Campbell, Viera e.t.c had stayed, our young players would have been better than this now?
We need experience and strenght to take the team back to it’s right place.
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Fantastic question. Just like you do, I’m a strong believer in promoting from within. Francis Coquelin for example, is a player with genuine quality and mental toughness to play as a starter in the 1st eleven. His passing is almost exquisite, his tackling is world class (remember the tackle he made in the penalty area with the West Brom man through on goal in the final game of the season?) Why would Wenger then sign M’vila who would need time to adapt to life in England when we have Coquelin who doesn’t need any acclimatisation to undergo?
People were crying for Vertonghen to be signed, yet Arsenal already have Kyle Bartley and Ignasi Miquel whom I rate very highly. Why would a club invest so much in players from 15,16,17,18,19,20 and then suffocate their emergence by signing ready-made quality? What then would be the relevance of academies? For me, Miyaichi, Lansbury, Frimpong, Coquelin, Bartley, Henderson and Afobe should be given time on the pitch, other than venturing the market for players who might not even make it big, like Chamakh and Park!
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@Malik is right!
Have to be realistic no matter how painful it is. Dont bring players up over 14-15mill price tag.
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In an ideal world we’d have a squad good enough that could accommodate the introduction of young promising talent! But we don’t.
The Emergence of our young stars is by no choice as we can not afford the experienced professionals you need to win you tropheys or grit when the chips are down.
Instead they are promoted to the first team because players we’ll call ” DEADWOOD” have been given way to many chances to honour they very high wage packets ( for them ) to do it on the pitch but just can’t do it!
I’d love to see arsenal introducing players like, silva, eisfield, ryo etc into a team who had enough experience to guide them to greatness,
Once van persie goes we won’t even have 1player left that who will know what it’s like to have one something with arsenal. That’s shocking to think.
Podolski is in no doubt a very good player but he is unproven in the premier league as is giroud and anyone else we are likely to buy this season.
It semms to me the reason we go after all this young potential is to put them in the shop window for future profits.
On another note the ox is special but don’t get carried away he is far from experienced
And too much should too soon should not be expected on him
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Wenger said it himself when hes going to buy a player he looks at the re-sale value.
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@Patrick Ssekatawan – spot on! not only does it allow those extremely talented players to get more of that desired “experience”, but it also allows some first team players to get rested every now and then, so that they don’t burn out.
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@Leo where do you get all your info mate?
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@malik i don’t know how rich they are beacuse villareal complained about malaga to uefa because they haven’t paid full fees for santi cazrola + wages of some of the players are yet to be paid at their club & above all santi cazrola have handed a transfer request & he is repotdly earning aroun 60 a week acc to spanish report i hope thay answers your question
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@gooner cape town this info is on many sites just google it we will be signing ganso as well we are close to that deal brazilian media have confirmed it arsenal are waiting to sort out rvp issue fast + some of the players like park,chammakh,bentner,squallaci will all be leaving that will clear the wage bill & wenger will sign the agent of santi carola confirmed it even spuds are interested in him
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Of course the fans don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, at training etc. There is a whole mental side to promoting players too, it’s their attitude behind the scenes which we cannot see, but Wenger obviously can. All we an do is see how they have performed when they do get a chance, and base our opinions on that.
I agree with what Malik has said in that we have too many defenders wanting to be RvP, and not actually doing their job in defense. Our problem last season was that we conceded too many goals…scoring them wasn’t the problem. Defense has been our problem for the last 4 or 5 seasons, too many times have I heard commentators and fans from other clubs saying our defense is suspect etc. Wenger needs to bring the Adams, Keown, Bould, Winterburn days back, where defending was hard work and GOOD communication. The keeper, and defenders must be one unit and one mind.
Anyway, from what I have seen, Jenkinson tries hard but he is too slow. For a defender this is a no no. Yennaris is a far better prospect. Santos is a winger/LAM. His anticipation is good, but if a fast winger passes him, he cannpt backtrack quick enough. It happened on several occasions last season. We have pretty solid defenders in Kossie, Vermalaen and Gibbs though.
Probably the best way to analyze a player is too look at statistics and base our opinion on that. People say that Ramsey’s work rate is the highest in the team. But if you look at other statistics you will find he was dispossessed of the ball more than any other player in the squad, and by far. This is unacceptable for a midfielder and I believe it is a valid reason enough to send him out on loan. You cannot argue with statistics.
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@mikegooner wenger may have to bring quality players malik’s targets afeelay may not happen the last thing we want is another injury prone plyer niang deal will happen not sure about m’vila after wenger said diaby is fit the agent of santi cazrola & ganso have already confirmed that arsenal are intereste & even a bidwas made this not a story or a fanatsy news created by me but it will happen as early as next week hopefully never know what wenger’s intenion are
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hey.. what’s up with this news about Bendtner joining Milan?
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I support every single thing you said except one. Who are you referring 2 as misguided fools? Journalists or your readers?
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There is nothing wrong with promoting them but we must hold on to them after they have become superb players which we have failed to do since few seasons.
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What do you mean by ‘we need experience’? Don’t we have experience really? Look, many of the players we have have played football for many years and have vast experience.
Sagna 28, Santos 29 Vermaelen 26, Koscielny 26, Park 26 Mertesacker 27, Song 24, Arteta 30, Rosicky 31, Diaby 25, Gervinho 25, Chamakh 28, Giroud 25, Podolski 27, Theo 23, etc.
What then do you want? Do you want Arsenal to buy Filippo Inzaghi, Del Piero, Gattusso, Kevin Phillips, Raul Gonzalez and the call Vieira, Petit, Makelele, Maldini, Costacurta, Rui Costa, Figo from retirement to regard Arsenal as a team with experience? By the way, what is the average age of the Man City team that won the league last season?
What baffles me is that even the players you always suggest Wenger should buy are also young and have not done much in football. Ganso 22, Gotze 20, Christian Eriksen 20, M’vila 21, Adrian Lopez 23, Lewandowski 23, so what do you mean?
For me, it is not down to experience, it’s down to mental strength, attitude, defensive organisation, and teamwork. All those have been missing in the Arsenal team, that’s why it has always been found wanting. The Arsenal team has lacked the fight Man United possesses, losing matches before even playing them, like the 4-0 loss to Milan, the 3-1 loss to Man United in the Semi-Final of the UCL, etc.
I think Wenger should address those weaknesses more than anything else, because if he doesn’t, even if we sign Messi, the team will remain in trophy drought for much longer!
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@malik, malaga havent paid 40percent of their player wages & indeed as leo says they also owe a few clubs payments from player purchases. for some odd reason they are cash strapped. check yesterday’s espnsoccernet on the move. Thats were i read it.
As for players being promoted, great topic of debate jg but look @ the difference over the years. Players used to effortlessly step up because there was that experience & confidence from the older guys. Fab being the prime example wen it comes to arsenal. Barcelona being the best wen it comes to that system in a whole. They do not substitute youth for experience. They allow the two to complement each other. As for us,, well we’r not far off.
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In football when we talk about “Youth vs Proven Players”, it’s like chatting about Euthanasia, Politics and Religion in a social circle. Not everyone will agree and opinions are always divided. The simple question we should ask is, why can’t English clubs develop youth and bring in experienced players like Spanish clubs do?
My belief is the culture. After generations of expectations from players developed by supporters over decades, the English game is believed to be best played at a fast and entertaining rate. Football can be played in many ways and no real style can guarantee victory over another. Because the game is so rapid in England, it’s all about GO GO GO, and never THINK THINK THINK! The Italians and Spanish are much more technically gifted as they play a different style of football; much slower, technically sound and strategic. A smarter type of football based on possession principles. They tend to pace themselves more throughout 90mins, whereas players in the EPL are expected to chase down every ball and never stop moving. It’s understandable why foreign players fail in the EPL due to the fashion the game is played, coupled with the horrendous weather conditions. Also the English are an impatient crowd, they want to see results overnight. They are quick to judge, thus hindering a player’s confidence and belief, labelling a certain player as poor before he’s had a chance to settle in a new country and on top of that, not speaking a word of English. This places extra pressure on players and mangers to cope with, and we all know how much fuel paparazzi can deliver to a burning house, which in turn just exponentially makes matters worse for those under the pump.
England is a well developed western country and sometimes when we are more fortunate than other people, those having to work harder, actually end up surpassing those who had more opportunities. In most cases it’s the opposite, but in the footballing world, children from 3rd world countries have to work harder to reach their aspirations. It’s hardship that has taught them how to fight and survive. Attributes, key to molding a winning mindset. The English have had it too easy, with a plethora of opportunities since last Sunday. Maybe this is the problem. I honestly don’t see England winning a European cup or World Cup in the next 2 decades maybe even 3. The nation is so far behind other European countries in football, yet it is so far in front of other nations with its sovereignty.
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nothing wrong with youth promotion, but i think its best when they have a mentor in the team. key to this is not playing players out of position all the time. an example sanga and jenkinsen work and train together if sanga needs a rest or is injured jenkinsen should play but wenger will think i would rather more experiance there and put djourou in the team out of position. same all over the pitch artetea/wilshere song/coquelin new am/lansbury in our system defined roles are vital a player needs to know what is expected when he comes in like a spare part in a machine
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I would love to see frimpong come back from injury and break through to 1st team. he has the aggression others lack in the team, but also he is composed on the ball.
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People have been crying out for wenger to sell release or loan out the deadwood and wenger is doing exactly that. after the signings of podolski and giroud we wre left with 34 players (homegrown/non-homegrown) he released 4 almunia benayoun hoyte and murphy. he then loaned out denilson and has sold vela. so we are down to 28. He has raised just £4m but saved around another £12m a year in wages. The next 4 will be crucial as that will then bring the number down to 24 allowing us to bring in one player. i believe that squillaci botelho bendtner and arshavin will be the 4 saving us around a further £8m and netting another £14m in fees. After that it is going to be a case of one out one in upon receiving acceptable offers for the likes of park chamakh and eastmond plus reluctantly he may have to listen to offers for rvp fabianski and walcott who are all in their last year.
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What is preventing the young players getting a chance is that – with 70 on the playing staff – there are too many of them. And with Wenger actually bringing in mature players last summer and this … there will be even less chance. It represents an admission from AW that his accent on youth has failed – which in trophy terms it has.
Also it seems that AW judges players from their training performances… which can be right and can be wrong. Take the comparison with cricket. Many a player looks good in the nets but cannot do it under pressure in the middle .. and vice versa. Think about it AW (oh no of course he won’t)
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We can develop young players as we did for the past few seasons. Thats why we are trophyless for the past seasons. When they develop, they will seek other clubs too. Then what is the point of developing players? Look at the other teams around us and you will get the answer very clearly.
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@leo, ESPN is a rumor breeding source so the ganso deal is shaky at best. Granted, it would be a terrific signing.
great article JG
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I totally agree, after all that should be the foundation of any great football club. The ideal would be to have one youth promotion each season and one world class acquisition, that keeps the club ticking over at the top. The situation we find our selves in, is maybe one promotion, no world class acquisition, instead one or two on their toes, which hinders our youths progression, how do you think wilshere got to this standard, by watching fabregas and nasri.
I still believe in the way arsenal are doing things, and i still believe in Wenger. The only thing we all find unbelievable is how they didn’t all realise buying just one top class player each year to go along with our youth policy, would have kept all our world class players and kept us competing, i.e instead of buying all of Park Chamakh and Gervinho, just buy say for arguments sake a Higuain and give Lansbury a shot.
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To Malik
They were rich but their in a huge debt cause they signed so many expensive players and lost a place in the CL and now they even owe some of their players wages
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I would never claim to know enough to run a team, but I judge what I see on the field just as everyone else does. What I see is that several of the players mentioned are no where near ready. And that includes Szczesny.
Coquelin to me looks like he will always be a good utility player, but never a starter for a team at this level. Szczesny looks like he could be a world class keeper in a few years once he irons out most of the mental mistakes from his game. But until then we will continue to see him chipped, gone around, giving up penalties, etc. because he ventures off the line way too often for a goalkeeper in this league. To me this is a minor issue because the defense needs to be focused on first. A good defense will make him look much better. Frimpong has the physical tools to be great, but I think he needs to work on his technical skills. Arsenal is famous for the technical style of play we have, but he doesn’t possess the skills to play regularly yet in my opinion.
I like the article. I think Arsenal should continue to look at young players and try to find young stars in the making. The fact is that all of the young prospects we get are considered to be insane talents. Very few of them turn into great football players though. It isn’t that our youth system isn’t great. It is. But so many things have to happen for a great prospect to become a great player. They have to play and gain experience, stay healthy, get good coaching, get the right coaching, get experience at several levels of play, and all the while while working very hard on their skills and maintaining the confidence needed in their game. A lot of time and money is invested in these players, and it comes down to their drive and ability to improve, and luck is needed to stave off injuries as well as being in the right place at the right time to blossom into the player they can become.
I like how Arsenal get many of their players young and turn out good players regularly. This is included in the “self sustaining model” that Arsenal try to employ. This isn’t to discourage buying great players, or as Arsene has put it many times, “the right players.” As I said above, many of these prospects just aren’t going to turn into great players. In that case, you have to buy someone that can play at the level expected as title contenders in the BPL. We have several players already close to blossoming. They should be nurtured and hopefully the coaches choose the right time for them to get into Arsenal’s lineup.
I can imagine Afobe and Niang being a beastly combination in 4-5 years. And they will still be fairly young then! At that time, Frimpong, Woj, Ryo, Ox, Gibbs, Eisfield, Wilshere, Yennaris, etc. All will be within a few years of each other and could be the core of a dominant team. And the likes of Koscielny and Walcott should still be in their prime then as well.
If the young players we have now all develop to their potential, we could be dominating the league in a few years. It is an approach that I admire, but it will always come with more risks than buying players at their peak the way ManC and Chelsea, and to some extent Spuds and Liverpool, do. Only time will tell if these players will turn out to be world class. The coaches certainly know better than we fans do, but even they can’t be sure talent will turn into skills.
I believe in the coaching staff. The board not so much, but for me I am happy to be a fan either way. There’s no reason to bash people that are trying to do their jobs the way we have and continue to do. The players and the coaches have earned our respect for putting it all on the field. And for those that doubt RVP’s efforts on the field you guys are idiots. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a player try so hard to get to balls that most would let go. I feel like this may be the cause of some of his injuries as well. He is one of a kind, and I for one will miss him greatly, and wish him well wherever he goes. Well, as much as I can if he stays in the BPL.
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@leo the article just states that we are one of many clubs that are interested. Nothing about bidding let alone an inquiry..
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Success is relative not silverware.
Growing your own organic produce takes lots of time, nurturing and patience, but tastes much sweeter than that artificially developed
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BREAKing news:
Van per$ie has just been spotted outside old trafford wearing a juventus jersey & chatting happily with Mancini!!!lolest
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Honestly think you are on to something here. Although we need one or two more signings (bit more experience to freshen up squad) from our transfer kitty, I think it would be great to properly integrate some youth players NOW. The time is right. Some are hungry and I know I am personally fed up of all the prima donnas. I want players who have drive, and willk fight for club amongst squad.
Coquelin- He’s the most ready out of all. Can play DM and RB (needed with our injuries). Great appetite for the game.
Lansbury – Now or never. Sell or integrate. I’d integrate as if we don’t give some players at least the chance then what’s the point?! Also our midfield always needs some depth as it is the most injured. He’ll fight for the badge.
Bartley – Same situation as Lansbury. Enough with the loan spells. Problem with him is that we have 4 players ahead of him.
Ryo – I feel 1 more year on loan is definitely needed, esp with so many players ahead of him at the moment. I would love him to go to Norwich, S’ton, Reading et al.
Frimpong – Again, a full year on loan his time would do him good (esp with Coquelin further ahead). Pity he got injured last year.
Afobe – I think one more loan spell will do his development good. Someone like him needs proper game time and unless Wenger gets rid of Park, Bendtner, Chamakh AND doesn’t buy then he might stay. Strikers breed confidence and gametime to score. I have high hopes for him though he needs to keep developing more to his game.
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On the coaching front delighted to see bould and banfield promoted hopefully bould can organise our defence and get them to defend as a unit no disrespect to pat rice who did a fantastic job but i think he became to much of a yes man to wenger and never stood up to him i hope bould and benfield get there views across and dont back down would also like to see them out on the touchline barking out instructions will make a change from seeing wenger waving his arms about and throwing water bottles around!
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@Freddy sir, Gervinho is not in the class of Park and Chamakh. Gervinho is faaaarrrr better than them combined. Ask Eden Hazard. By his own admission, ‘I learned a lot from him…’, ‘…….he’s the best player I’ve ever played with…’
He came from a lesser league-France, played 25 league games, scored 4 and made 6. He had his season interrupted by the Africa Nations Cup which tired him down. Yes, he missed many chances, but the good thing is that he was always there to take them and only missed them! If he hadn’t even had those chances, it would have been a worrying situation.
Just like Koscielny, Gervinho will have a fantastic second season in England, and I believe he be one of Arsenal’s most important players.
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its an opinion of ppl. some think the youth are ready and some think they are not. who are you to judge them? as far as i know you are not wenger, no one died and no one made you the manager. so what gives you right to attack others opinion. get a life
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There is no reason 4 not promoting d reserves team,for example barcelona do promote players(messi)before he was a world class.The issue of RVP should b forgo cos he came as a person but not as a leader to follow.Moreso,he is an injury player who was lucky last season and we cant expect him to repeat wat he did.Let buy defencively.
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Agree with Patrick’s comments RE: having youth players taking our squad berths (*though if they are youth than they don’t need squad quota status due to ages) than the mediocre players like Chamakh, Park, Fabianski, Arshavin etc.
It frustrates the hell out of me hearing that some of these players get £40-50k a week. This summer is a perfect chance for Wemnger to start showing proper faith in his philosophy by getting rid of deadwood, integrating more youth to back up his theory and giving them a chance to prove themselves once and for all and stepping up (certainly within the squad).
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Pls an aticle on gervinho
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Basically the comments section backs up the authors premise that most Arsenal fans are complete idiots that know nothing about running a football club successfully (economically) or youth player policy.
When our manager has qualified us for the CL every year for 14 years while spending less than Stoke, we should shut up and let him get on with it.
I don’t want to hear about trophies, most supporters support their clubs without any possibility of trophies. That’s what real fans do. They love their club and want them to continue in good financial shape.(think Rangers)
Eventually FFP regulations will strangle the big spenders and we will emerge looking like a genius club.
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Apparently, the Cazorla deal is off, Ganso deal is very much on! We have meant to have put in a bid of £15milion for Ganso which his agent has said is likely to be accepted! NICE!!!! Looks like Arsenal are getting one of the best Brazilian youngsters of this generation! Wenger has also said he wants 1-2 more players but any more will be decided on who leaves. So get Ganso. Then if we sell some more players liek bendter Arshavin etc, then we could be seeing a few more new faces
And yeah the Niang deal is still very much on they only want £1.4 million for him, after from what ir ead we put in a bit of like £900,000. SO he must have impressed in his trials 
Good times ahead?
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What i no is that loaning ryo might be inadequate. Good article @admin
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@leo and co.
how many times have we heard this story of “all we got to do is get his medical n his signed” only to c the next week that his over at Real madrid get twice the wages we could offer him e.g. xabi alonso, gary cahill, Samba, Mata. the only rumours we believe r the unknown talent rumours or the ligue 1 rumours cause that’s what we’re getting. Santi Carzola is an engine, a set piece taker, a player hitting his prime, a vital player (his abscence along with some injuries prompted villareal’s relegation) AND THE MOST DEFEANING HIS A WELL KNOWN PLAYER, tell me 1 world class player everyone envied and wanted on their team arsene has signed in the past 8 years??? the most recent players i can remember are wiltord and sol campbell, arshavin maybe even he was relatively unknown actually and that’s it, song, van persie, fab, nasri, wilshere, adebayor, flamini, eduardo ALL were bought for peanuts-that is the policy that limits our choices to some unknown superstar who costs peanuts so even m’villa is a stretch-although he’d have re-sale value
but santi carzola has a zero% chance coming to arsenal FACT#
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It’s because it takes at least 2 seasons for them to establish themselves.I remember Song being awful for parts of his first full season,giving the ball away needlessly and being out of position.Similarly with Flamini back when he was brought in he was terrible but then started playing CM with Fabregas he started to flourish in what I believe was our best midfield since the Vieira,Gilberto,Pires and Ljungberg days.But once Flamini and Hleb starting playing well they wanted out and thats the real problem,once our youth players or signings in general come through and start performing they want to leave ie Flamini,Hleb,Adebayor and now Van Persie.
I don’t have a problem with Wenger bringing through young players it’s the Arsenal way but we need experienced complete players now to start competing so that when those young players do come through and start playing to their potential they’ll want to stay because they know that we can win trophies.
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@Patrick Ssekatawa
experience is defined by matches played or experiences not age e.g. messi has played more competitive, high profile games than squillaci making him more experienced although messi 24 and squillaci is 31
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@admin can you write an article of the choice for left-back between santos and gibbs and also include this video because it is AMAZING !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfcG_6CW4js&feature=g-user-u
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Ive got a idea why dont we change our name to manc city youth, wenger’s fruits bare through at other clubs, great role model for Arsenal future.
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i really hope some of the young players prove themselves this pre-season. I’d love 2 see Eisfeld n Ryo integrated into the 1st team.
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The fault is not always with the players, but with tactics and player selection, sometimes I wonder why Ramsey is selected, we regularly start games very poorly, before we can settle we have already conceded and then we start chasing the game. We now need a creative player or attacking midfielder, Wenger should also stop buying or grooming non scoring non defending, physically weak players.
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The last time we played the reserves we lost 8-2
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A lot of our reserve players tend to be overhyped and overrated. Also, what you rarely get from a youngster is consistency.
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The players have massive potential but why put in unneeded pressure on them. Afc is a top club aiming to win trophies so why put the pressure on players under 20 all the time. They will always be a few season away from reaching their full potential and by that time the experienced player will leave. What if next season Song decides to leave? Of course Frimpong and Coquelin have great potential but why pressure them to fill those boots so early. Look at Ramsey he had to fill the boots of Fabregas which is not fair on him. He is good for his age but afc needed someone of Cescs calibre to challenge for trophies.Play the reserves in the carling cup so they can get the experience for big games or loan them to other pl teams.
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@Malik I wouldn’t worry too much about defending anymore. Steve Bould will have a big impact on the way we defend now. and I bet Pat Rice will still be having his say behind the scenes! plus we will have M’Vila and Song covering our full backs
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and for those saying we should get another striker I really don’t think we need one. we have Podolski who is naturally a striker. Giroud. Benik Afobe is coming through, and also Walcott. Wenger wouldn’t keep bringing in wingers if he wasn’t going to convert Theo into the next Henry.
Ganso would be an awesome buy though. we need a player who can score goals in the CAM role. his price is pretty cheap as well considering how much the other Brazillian’s go for!
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What arsenal need is mental strength, better communication and most of all team spirit. I remember at a point last season during our run of matches un beating, we played like a team, I saw something which was very common in barcelona; team work. Walcot was tracking down, so was gervinho helping the mid field. An defence to be thick. The defence was So composed in this period and it gave arsenal a new face. We became dangerous to play, totenham, Ac millan even mancity felt the difference. All this changed when we started having problem with arteta fitness. We will surely be better this season, wenger made a statement which reflects to the fact Bold is making a good progress with the defensive side of the midfield and defence. All that’s needed is team spirit, management of the boys old and young and good communication. We have experience my fellow gooners.
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The question is whether you want titles and trophies or whether you’re content to finish in the top 4-6? That is the question.
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To answer your question, “Why do people pre-determine if a youngster is ready or not,” and I’m guilty of this as well; but many of us most likely play video games such as Fifa or Football Manager franchises and in those games Arsenals young players arn’t ready. So many carry notions that promoting those players would be a bad idea when in truth as you pointed out, only Arsene Wenger and the coach’s get a day-to-day look at every player and how well they play.
GOONER FOR LIFE!!!
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Ryodinho
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the reason. we have not had a trophy is purely because we have not have experience at our disposal. wenger has learn a lesson or two and that is why he has brought in a and continues to looks at other avenues for bringing in experience. The idea of promoting young players from the academy is welcome but we must have exprieneced/ hungry players as well.
exprience is the best teacher…..
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